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This is a project that has been a long time in arriving. I have always been fascinated
by social history - the way ordinary people lived - their daily experiences and the structure and framework of their lives.
In fact, I was fascinated by my parents's lives. Neither of them was highly educated or professionally or otherwise distinguished,
but their lives were a cross-section of twentieth century America. My father was born in 1911, my mother in 1914. Their parents
were from the old country; they lived the American immigrant experience. And they lived through World War One, the influenza
pandemic of 1918, the roaring twenties, the Great Depression, World War Two, the dawn of the atomic age, postwar prosperity,
the Cold War, the dawn of the space age, the civil rights years, and the beginning of the computer age. They arguably
saw more change than any of the generations which preceded them. They were living history books. Even today, long after they
have both passed, fewer years have elapsed between the end of the Civil War and their births than between the end of World
War Two and now.
If I don't write what they told me and what I saw about their lives, when I pass
it will be lost.
I have discussed this project with friends and its time has arrived. I intend
to write biographies of my parents and post them here. As many talented friends of middle age and beyond as I can
convince will do the same with their parents and in the aggregate we will write some history. My readers and visitors to this
site are invited to join in. If you can write well, I'll post your contributions. Email me if you would like to participate.
Coming ASAP -
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